[jira] [Commented] (SAMZA-455) Decide on Java 6 support policy

["Jakob Homan (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org>]

    [ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/SAMZA-455?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=14240492#comment-14240492 ] 

Jakob Homan commented on SAMZA-455:
-----------------------------------

If we end up deciding to go with something like Eric's proposal - which I support - we should update the website with a special section explaining the plan.  This will help to provide that solid warning Eric recommends, as well as give new contributors an idea of where we're headed.

> Decide on Java 6 support policy
> -------------------------------
>
>                 Key: SAMZA-455
>                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/SAMZA-455
>             Project: Samza
>          Issue Type: Wish
>            Reporter: Martin Kleppmann
>
> Currently Samza builds against JDK 7, although AFAIK we are not yet using JDK7-only language/stdlib features, so we could still support JDK6 if we want to. There have been requests for this:
> * [Eric Sammer|https://twitter.com/esammer/status/516681461219737600]
> * [Tommy Becker|http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/incubator-samza-dev/201411.mbox/%3C5458CF13.6080108%40tivo.com%3E]
> In June/July there was a [mailing list discussion|http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/incubator-samza-dev/201406.mbox/%3CCADiKvVuvxRH8eP60pXx7AUPOzzdtxzDvNNpdc5%2B6%2BeQ90nqCMQ%40mail.gmail.com%3E] ([continued|http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/incubator-samza-dev/201407.mbox/%3CCFD85452.2C7BA%25criccomini%40linkedin.com%3E] — Apache's mailing list archive doesn't do threading across a month boundary) on which JDK versions to support. There was a general desire to start moving towards JDK8, so that we could start using Java 8 language features and gradually start moving away from Scala. But we can't use Java 8 language features as long as we're still supporting JDK 6 and JDK 7, and the day when everyone is using JDK 8+ still seems fairly far in the future.
> JDK 6 was [EOL in Feb 2013|http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html], but if there is continued demand for it, perhaps we should continue supporting it. The counter-argument is that "JDK6 seems to be becoming the Windows XP of the Hadoop ecosystem", as [~jghoman] put it.
> So: should we switch Samza back to building on JDK 6? And if so, can we decide on a policy for removing JDK 6 support?



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